Salut cousin!

I happened to see this film on TV and I'm happy of it! It is a touching story of a young Algerian man, Alilo, who comes to Paris and wants to meet his relatives who have immigrated there years ago. He meets his cousin Mok who pretends to be the succesful person of his family. At first, Alilo believes him but finds out the truth when he visits the family. Nothing is like Mok has said. The film is very realistic, sometimes almost depressing. Alilo, who is used to people disappearing and getting killed in Algeria, expects France to be a paradise. But living there as an immigrant isn't such easy. Still, these people love Paris. The cultural differences between the native Algerians and the immigrated ones become clear through the film. Alilo, who never has spoken to a girl outside the family, falls in the first one who speaks to him. Parisians seem very free to him and he seems very clumsy to them. In fact, he's a very nice and polite young man who tries to learn what he can on his adventerous trip.

How is it going to end?

Salut portrays post-modern French society, through the eyes of Maghrebines, truthfully and comically. The characters, despite certain eccentricities, are real and the actors who play them are truly talented. The movie follows a few days of an Algerian man, Alilo's, "business" trip to Paris where he stays with his cousin who has lived in the city for years. He is unfamiliar with the metropolitan ways of the city of that of his cousin. However, he soon finds that he is in love and wishes to stay in the city. Amidst that, we see the underlying problems peoples of Maghreb and immigrant decent face in France today.